Mike Watches a Movie - Man of Steel

From what I hear, Man of Steel is receiving a bit of a panning from critics. After viewing the movie last weekend, I think I’m ready to give my take on the movie.




Overall, I was entertained by the movie. I certainly enjoyed it more than “Superman Returns” from 7 years ago. It had a much bigger feel to it than that particular movie. I must say though that after leaving the movie theatre my first impulse was to go home and watch the original Richard Donner “Superman” again.



I liked Henry Cavill in the role of Superman. I found him likeable and I was rooting for him throughout the movie. With a beard he kind of looked like a muscled up Andy Murray actually. That being said, I don’t think he bettered or even matched the performance of Christopher Reeve from the original movie. That is more a comment on the strength of Reeve’s performance as opposed to a comment on the weakness of Cavill. He was a perfectly fine Superman and I think that he has potential to grow into the role in future movies should he be given the opportunity.



Hans Zimmer’s musical score, though not bad per say, doesn’t do much for the movie and is barely even close to the excellence of John William’s score. The lack of the classic Superman theme really hurts the movie. There are numerous scenes where a bit of the William’s theme or even a re-mix of it would have been greatly appreciated. The movie just lacks certain panache without it. I can certainly understand the reasons why they wouldn’t want to include it, but I still think the movie is a lesser film for not having it.



I’ve seen some people complain that the flashbacks aren’t in order ala Batman. I’ll say this right away, I hate origin stories. A character like Superman really doesn’t need an origin story to begin with. It certainly didn’t require a whole film dedicated to it like Iron Man did. I actually preferred the flashbacks being placed throughout the film as opposed to doing the big origin build up. They get into the meat and potatoes of the story pretty quickly and I appreciated that.



I actually kind of liked that the flash backs weren’t in chronological order. To me, that was an accurate representation of how the human mind works. When you think about things that have happened in the past, do you do it in order? Of course not. Your mind swoops and shuffles between memories and whatever is the most relevant one at the time usually comes to mind. I liked that this was reflected in the movie. Whether the writer intended that as such I’m not sure but I think it still stands as a relevant point.



The fight scenes have gotten some stick as well but I found them to be visually and mentally stimulating. It can’t be easy trying to recreate some of the bizarre fight situations that a character like Superman would find himself in and I thought the movie did an admirable job in that regard. I watched the movie in 2D so it may have been easier on my eyes than those who watched in 3D. I’ve actually read in some reviews that people got motion sickness watching it but I think that would have to be in jest.



I’m not going to go into the plot too much, just in case anyone reading this hasn’t seen the movie. I know other reviewers had issues with the story and the scripting. Most of them are fair criticisms in my opinion. The characters on the whole are overly simplified and spend most of the story going on big speeches in lieu of actually developing any character. Kevin Costner as Jonathon Kent spends every scene he’s in going on some speech or another at every free moment. I can only imagine there were scenes of the Kent family enjoying a breakfast meal at their local Harvester that had to be cut due to time constraints as the movie just couldn’t contain another 5 minute Costner speech about responsibility and humanity.



The lack of character depth is probably the biggest problem with the movie actually. A Superman movie thrives or dies on the supporting cast. Superman himself is so infallible and so good that it’s hard to find him fully interesting for a 2 hour movie. It’s by surrounding him with interesting characters like Lois Lane and Lex Luthor that drama can be derived. Superman is practically invincible so it’s hard to feel that he is ever in any personal peril.



However, Lois is human. She can be hurt and she can be killed hence this is where the drama from a Superman movie is usually pulled from. If the supporting cast isn’t up to it then the film lacks a fair amount of drama. They try but I never really felt myself caring about what happened to the characters. Most of them are so one dimensional and so blasé about putting themselves in danger that it just totally took me out the movie from a dramatic standpoint.



To be honest, I think pretty much everything, bar maybe the fight scenes, was much better in the original Superman movie from the 70’s. The music was better, the characters were better, the story was better and the comedy was better. That’s not to say that there is no worth to “Man of Steel”.



Like I said earlier, I enjoyed watching it and if it was on TV and I hadn’t seen it in a while, I’d probably be able to sit down and watch it again and derive some entertainment from it. It’s not a good movie though. Apparently Christopher Nolan fans are going on the defensive but I don’t know why. Everyone makes a bad movie now and then. It’s impossible to be a film maker and have a spotless record. This one didn’t hit the mark but I’m sure he’ll do alright in future movies. “The Dark Knight” is still one of the finest films ever made and I loved and still love “Inception”.



I’m actually surprised that two films with such rich and enjoyable characters spawned a movie with such wooden characters as “Man of Steel” but hey I guess Nolan was overdue for a bad film. It’s not an all time stinker and if you go to it with an open mind, I imagine there’ll be things in it that you can enjoy. Just buy yourself some nachos with some of that cheesy flavoured warm plastic that cinema’s sell, sit back, enjoy it as best you can, have a grumble with your mates in the pub/fast food store/wine bar afterwards and then buy Richard Donner’s “Superman” off Amazon when you get home.

Ginger Doesn't Take It Anymore

The Venue: Silas High School Gymnasium

Attendance: 350

The Show: Female Combat Council presents "Chaos Bleeds"

The Match: Ginger Gargano Vs "Darling" Daisy Dempsey for the FCC Unified Championship

 

Ginger hated Daisy. She represented everything she despised about women's wrestling. She was cute, perky and did a "Cow Girl" gimmick. She would come to the ring in chaps with a lasso, which she would rap around a fan at ringside and pull him in for a kiss. The men slobbered over her, like they did for most of the women on the show. The girls for the most part encouraged it. They saw it as a necessary evil, even if it could sometimes be a little degrading. It ensured that the drooling men came back each month, and ensured that the sport would survive that little bit longer.

 

Ginger would have none of it. One time, while she was coming down to the ring, a fan patted her on the back. No sooner had his hand touched her shoulder, Ginger had grabbed the man and pulled him over the apron. She had brutalised him with stomps and punches until security managed to dive him and grab him to safety. Fans didn't touch Ginger after that, and that was the way she liked it.

 

The bell rung and Ginger raced across the ring. Daisy hadn't even had a chance to remove all of her gaudy ring attire. She turned in surprise, only to walk right into a big yakuza kick. Daisy's nose was broken immediately on impact. She scrambled on the mat, trying to grab the rope, the ref, anything. The ref dove in to see if she was okay to continue. Before Daisy could even finish saying "yes", Ginger was back on offense. She elbowed Daisy in the face, hard! Another two well placed elbows cracked against Daisy's face. Daisy slumped in the corner unsure of where she was. Ginger moved away to the opposite corner. The ref took the chance to check if Daisy was okay in the corner. Over the concerned murmur of the crowd, the ref heard a blood curdling yell of "REF! MOVE!!"

 

The ref turned around to see the terrifying site of Ginger charging into the corner. The ref was just able to dodge in time. Daisy isn't so lucky. Ginger mauled Daisy with a brutal knee. She then dragged Daisy into the middle of the ring and pulled her up by her hair. Daisy doubled over and tried to grab at Ginger's hands but she found it impossible to break Ginger's iron like grip. Ginger looked out at the crowd and sneered. The man on the front row stared up at the ring, Daisy's lip stick still visible on his cheek, a look of concern on his face.

 

Ginger reared back and delivered a nasty "Kawada Kick" right into Daisy's forehead. Daisy slumped a little but fought to stay on her feet. This was unwise. Ginger reared back and kicked her again and again, and again and again! The man on the front row shielded his eyes, unable to witness the carnage. After at least six brutal kicks, Ginger pulled Daisy's head between her legs, pointed high to the ceiling, and then lifted her high up in a Crucifix Power Bomb. With Daisy as high up as possible, Ginger drove her down into a Sit Out Power Bomb. The referee counted Daisy's shoulders down for three. It was an act of mercy. Ginger snatched her Championship Belt from the ring announcer and didn’t even bother to wait for her to finish the announcement.

 

"Ladies and Gentleman, your winner and STILL FCC Unified Champion...Ginger Gargano!"

Another contest finished. As vicious as it was brief!

 

Medics attend to Daisy in the ring as Ginger walks through the curtain. She finds the promoter waiting for her and he is spitting feathers.

 

"Ginger! What the Hell? It's bad enough that you haven't had a title defence over 5 minutes since you won that Belt, but now you go and do THAT to Daisy? Dammit, she's one of my top draws! How the hell is she going to draw money now you've smashed her damn face in?"

 

Ginger smirks

 

"Come on Tank, what do you expect? I'm a high calibre professional athlete and you put me in there with 'Cow Girl Barbie'? You're lucky it went as long as it did. You put me in there with someone who can actually hang with me next time and maybe the fight will last longer than 5 minutes"

 

Tank holds his hands over his face and groans

 

"Ginger, I'm not even sure there will be a next time. Do you think anyone in that locker room wants to face you? You take things too far!"

 

Ginger holds up her FCC Unified Championship Belt

 

"Listen, if they want this belt, they're gonna have no choice. If they're not tough enough to hang with me, then they shouldn't even be in this business. I mean, shit Tank, what the hell sort of smut show are you running here? You've got Daisy running around wearing next to nothing, you've got a tag team who are supposed to be 'Cheerleaders' and you've got someone pretending to be Cleopatra!"

 

"Ginger! You listen and you listen good because I am sick, FUCKING SICK, of having this conversation with you every time I run a show. You see that crowd out there tonight? This venue holds 750 people. We used to turn people away when we ran shows here. We used to have to set up bleachers so that we could fit everyone in. Business has been in the toilet for months now. 7-8 months ago, we had 75 people in that building. 75! Ever since we started having the new gimmicks, business has been slowly picking up. Fans like that stuff. They find it entertaining"

 

"They like it because they're goddam perverts!"

 

"No! They like it because it gives the show some flavour, something different. You going out there and murdering my girls is bad for business"

 

"I'm the best wrestler you've ever booked Tank!"

 

"Yes you are, and it hasn't done shit for business! People don't like you Ginger. They're scared of you. Dammit some fan a few months ago patted you on the back and you almost put him in hospital"

 

"He was trying to cop a feel!"

 

"He wasn't doing shit!"

 

Ginger fumes and flings the belt at Tank.

 

"You know what Tank? Fuck you! Fuck you and fuck your stupid fucking softcore sex show! You think I need this shit? You think I want to be champion of a hell hole like this? You can take this belt and hand it to one of your skanks in the locker room. You can dress her as a naughty school girl or some other shit! I don't need this place and I don't need you!"

 

Ginger storms past Tank. The locker room has emptied and all of the girls are watching Ginger. One of the sexy Cheerleaders throws Ginger's bag out of the locker room. Ginger picks it up.

 

"What the hell are all you prissy bitches looking at? You want some of me? I'll fucking tar you all right now!"

 

The girls all look at each other and file back into the locker room. Ginger spits on the floor and then walks out into the cold New York air.